SPOTIFY NEWS ROUNDUP

There’s always Spotify developments going on, and right at the edge of a new decade, Spotify launches Wrapped, streaming the sweet sounds of your nostalgia.

Nostalgia is tied to music and pop culture, and we all have favorite songs that remind us of the happiest times of our lives. Now Spotify is launching Wrapped, which Forbes calls “a new campaign to help users remember their decade of music.”

As this report explains, “Tens of millions of people have been going through their digital archives or own music” as part of Wrapped. Once you round up your favorite songs, you get a report from Spotify “featuring most played, favorite genres and other stats.”

As anyone following the streaming game knows, data and stats are a big key to everything growing bigger, and this could make a fascinating new way to learn listener data from other people’s favorite songs.

The campaign has apparently been a hit, and the numbers are remarkable: Over 60 million Spotify users ran up close to 3 billion streams using the Wrapped program. Everything old is new again, indeed.

This has also been spreading out to other social media platforms, creating what one source calls a “flywheel effect,” and it can all hopefully help spread Spotify further and further along into the public consciousness.

Tastebuds on the Way

Happymag.tv also reports there’s a new Spotify automation in the works called Tastebuds. As this report tells us, “Tastebuds will let you listen and share music with your friends in the Spotify app because you can never have too many ways to share how excellent your taste is.”

Like Wrapped, the more people share, the bigger the potential for everything to grow. It will also help take the solitary confinement of listening to Spotify by yourself out of the equation as well.

As Happymag writes, “A followers tab has been available on the desktop version for those who occasionally need a break from their own impeccable taste for somebody else’s; an important feature that encourages perspective and discovery with curators and the admired.”

Heavy Drama Podcasts

With Spotify also going deep into the podcast realm, there’s excellent storytelling potential on the edge of the new decade as well. A new podcast in the works will take on the controversial story of the infamous rapper Takeshi 6ix9ine, and it’s being produced with backing from Complex magazine. As Pitchfork reports, this podcast will focus on the origins of the controversial rapper, and it will launch in January.

Ultimately there are many fascinating developments with Spotify to watch for next year, and even with a heavy emphasis on podcasting, the company still insists that music will always be a huge part of the company and will not be overshadowed by anything else. There’s enough great stuff in the works that it should only help the music business grow and grow into the new year, as well as the new decade.